GDPritch

Lady Sioux hoopsters looking good. They did lose Madi Buck (along with post player Wall) from last year, who as a 6 footer who could play both inside and shoot from outside (tough to replace), but Brewster's crew is making it work. Towson only lost to Penn ST by 7 pts last week, and they won a few games in the NCAA tourney last season, so the win is nothing to sneeze at. Nice to see Siri play a good game as really struggled vs Milwaukee. Now need to get Lauk (sp?) going and it could shape out to be a nice season with lots of depth/scoring options from night to night.

I was at daughters HS play so just checking in. Did the Sioux deserve carry the play for the most part and deserve the win? I know they were up two - nil early so it appears they managed to at least hang on and grab the win. Seeing earlier threads, it appears Zane let in two he maybe should of had or at least had one of the two (nobody's perfect).

Idalski makes more than men's bucket's coach Jones? You've got to be kidding me, never realized that. Title 9 has done some good things (really, you need 110 ftbl players on scholarship ala 1980s?) but this shows how it went to far.

Regarding post #3--I agree wins over Bem, CC, and AF are not against top-tier teams (although I swear to God just about everytime we play Bem they play like a top 20 team vs us yet they finish season at a .350 win %) but what about the big win over Providence? Didn't they come in to the Ralph ranked #5? Albeit at home but a nice win (plus the tie) nonetheless. And yes, agree wholeheartedly with post #4 point made.

Quote by IBBGW 2011 should've been the year, 2013 was lining up to be a good chance...tough losses to swallow. Outplayed Michigan badly in 2011 but couldn't put one in, hit 2 or 3 pipes in that game too, then today have a goal called off and hit 4 more pipes...starting to wonder if there is a Bambino Curse at work or something. Just draining in the end. End Quote Hmm, curse of the new Ralph maybe? I do wonder? Nope, althogh it's really staring to seem that way. The culprit this last game was too many silly penalties the second half of game and, as usual this year, no secondary scoring and the defensive lapses.

Aren't 6 of our defesemen NHL draft picks? If so, it's hard to believe NOT one of them made the all WCHA conf team this year (not even second or third team). What does that say about their development or coaching? Something's amiss.

To win/compete close for the conf regular season title over the course of a full season a team has to be good, period. To win a natty, being it's one and done, you have to be BOTH good AND lucky. 2011 is a great example, Sioux likely best teamely in the country but played Mich in semi's outshooting them like 40-20 and hit 2 pipes but lose. Until they do like pro hockey and play best of series (and even that doesn't guarantee it if run into a hot goalie), just to be able to compete year in and year out for a chance at a natty like Hakstol has done is pretty good. Until that changes, stick with him. Being the pessimist that I am though, I do believe we might see our first .500 team at best in something like 12 - 15 years (?) next season and not make the national tourney (where will the goals come from? It's not a freshman league). The year after though the Sioux should pretty tough.

I hear you 82SiouxGuy but that's why I said "mainly" only recruiting in-state players. Also, they still rag on the Sioux for the number of Canadians so that hasn't changed. Again, not very consistent on U Min's part between their two teams.

Hey, I notice the U Min women's hockey team, of its 22 players, appears to have 10 from outside the state of Minnesota (4 from Canada, 4 from other states & 2 from Finland). It seems ironic that school that has a men's team that prides itself on mainly only recruiting in-state players/mocks the UND men's team for having Canadians, would do this? I wonder why there's no consistency between the both teams in it's recruiting policy? May we never hear the U Min/fans brag about this silly policy again. Ever notice they don't follow this very silly/provincial policy when it comes to football and basketball? Supply and demand I say.

How is the weather up there. Tempted to hop in car and make 5 1/2 trip to GF from Southern MN! Regarding the weather Ice Arena Man, very cold for mid Mar (was -13 about 3 hours ago, just cracked 0). Fairly clear/calm right now I think but winter weather/storm warning starting today/eve, with 4 - 6 inches snow expected overnight and strong wind & more nd snow on Mon. If you can stay overnight Mon (good chance might need to) then you could make it up now for tonight's game.

Oops, meant McMillan and Kristo. Fire my secretary.

Yes, admittedly a very good/seemingly unbiased post by a Gofer. Not playing Chicken Little but I think next season, unless some of the sophomore forwards step up their scoring production and defense plays better (to many breakdowns/lost at times it seems), we could see at best a .500 teams, akin to maybe Gino's teams' his last few years here. Other than Rocco and maybe McWilliam and Parks,who's going to shoulder the scoring load with with Krisco and Knight gone? The way college hockey is, unless you're a very talented top-end player (Rocco although snake-bit), freshmen just can't be counted on to reach double figure goal totals very often.

Absolutely brutal BS call. Gotta bring in in replay on those to decide if a major or even just a 2 min penalty. Changes the game to much to kick a player out when the call is wrong. It will be interesting if the Mich Tech player go after McWilliam? If they view the replay, they should be smart enough engineers to know it was a good, clean, hard hockey check--nothing more.

A buddy of mine sent this eamil to Paul Allen, KFAN Mpls, in ref to his recent statement that the Minn Goofers are the "NY Yankess of college hockey". PA- It was interesting listening to your program on Tue. You stated the MN Gopher hockey program was the "NY Yankees of College Hockey". It's hard to debate that the Yankees have not been the top/dominant professional baseball team over the years, every meaningful statistic would indicate that they have been. In regards to the Gopher Hockey program, they have not been the "dominant" (granted, one of the good programs) College Hockey Program by any meaningful statistic. - Most NCAA national titles, Min tied for 5th most overall with 2 other colleges: 1.) Mich 9 ; 2.)Tie: Denver & N. Dakota 7; 4.)Wis 6; 5.)Tie: Boston Col, Boston Univ & Min 8; 6.)Tie Mich State & Mich Tech 3. - In the last 25 years NCAA titles 1.) Boston Col 4; 2.) Lake Superior St 3; 3.) Tie: Mich, Denver, N. Dakota, Boston Univ, Wis, Maine, & Min 2; 10.) Tie Mich St, Harvard & Min-Duluth, N. Mich 1. - The Gopher Hockey program has been in WCHA Conf and they have not been the "dominant" program there either. WCHA Championships all-time: 1.) N. Dakota 15 titles; 2.) Min 14; 3.) Denver 12; 4.) Col College 9; 5.) Mich Tech 5. - WCHA titles in last 20 years 1.) N. Dakota 7; 2.) Min 5; 3.) Col College 6; 4.) Denver 3. Yes, Min has had a very respectable hockey program but far from being the N.Y. Yankees of college hockey.

I touched on this a few week ago but still irked (right word?) regarding the Goofers home/away schedule in comparison to UND's. Does RPI/Pairwise take into account the strength of schedule based only on who you play, regardless where, or does it also measure into that where you play them (home or away)? If not, it should. I looked at the top 25 rankings and, based on that, below is a schedule comparison (strength) of home & road games this season for both Minn & UND. A very nice home vs road schedule (I realize Minn) doesn't control the conf home/away schedule but they sure do the non-conf schedule) for the Goofers this season. Goofers: 12 home games vs teams currently ranked in the top 25 / Just 6 away games vs teams ranked in top 25. (Minn does not play UND, UNO nor Den on the road this season, that sure helps in battle for WCHA pts.) Sioux: Play 8 home games vs teams currently ranked in top 25 / Play a whopping 13 away games vs teams ranked in top 25. .

Did the refs call the CFB penalty against the UNO player against Gleason with maybe a second or two left in the game? If not, can't the league review it and suspend him for the next game? Also, that was a brutal "holding" call against the Sioux player on the UNO player's breakaway in the 3rd period that led to their PP and their first goal. The UNO player had started to lose his balance and the Sioux player literally just touched the UNO player's elbow with his hand. There was no holding or hooking or nothing. The ref made the call from the opposite corner so just "assumed" a penalty occurred.

I'm a die hard Sioux hockey fan but I do believe this season Minn, on paper, is a bit better & deeper. That being said, it doesn't necessarily mean UND can't beat them though (heck, with just a little puck luck we had them beat Sat in OT hitting two pipes) if we meet them down the line later this season. But even if you believe the two teams are even/real close, the Sioux would be hard pressed to finish ahead of the Goofers this season in the WCHA and rankings. Two points: 1. Currently, the top 5 teams points-wise in the WCHA are Minn, St. Cloud, UND, Omaha & Denver. The Goofers play ONLY 2 games on the road vs just 1 (St. Cloud) of these 4 teams this season. Meanwhile, The Sioux play 8 games on the road against ALL 4 of these teams. Granted, conf scheduling & unpredictability year to year is out of their control, but that's a nice conf schedule break for Minn this season. 2. To date, Minn has played 8 games against teams currently in the top 20 Pairwise rankings. Of those 8 games, ONLY 1 game has been on the road (Mankato). That's a great opportunity for pretty good home cooking for the Goofers. Meanwhile, the Sioux have played 11 games against teams currently in the top 20 Pairwise rankings. Of those 11 games, 7 have been on the road. Makes for a much tougher schedule so far. Hopefully, it makes them stronger for a playoff run.